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Strangers Chose What I Ate for Dinner

I was at a friend’s place last night watching some Olympic Hockey. Eventually the group of us got hungry and decided to order in some Chinese food. Problem: none of us knew of any good and/or nearby Chinese restaurants.

Within seconds, two iPhones came out. We ‘UrbanSpooned’ a place nearby and then hopped online to read more reviews of the food. Within 10 minutes we had 6 dishes chosen based on favourable reviews. Without even consulting the restaurant’s menu, we went ahead and ordered based solely on the opinions of strangers.

Dinner arrived. Every dish was a winner.

After that, some of us contributed our own reviews, and added the restaurant to our mobile contact lists.

The irony is, if this restaurant had a website, we wouldn’t have easily found it. Yet, there were multiple sources in which to find information about it and its dishes. The point here is if you don’t take control of your online strategy, others will.

Swap out this restaurant for any other kind of business – say an airline, or a financial institution and you can quickly see how joining the online conversation already happening about your brand or product is critical. The goal isn’t to stop people from talking about you. (Quite the opposite in fact.) The goal is to listen. Be a part of the conversation. And be responsive.

Think of it not as being in the driver’s seat, but as drawing the map people follow.

What’s your experience?

Erin

Tags: chinese food, iPhone, mobile, online reviews, online strategy, peer reviews, urbanspoon